Shoulder supported arm sling



March 18, 1969 H. o. KENDALL ETI'AL 3,

saoummn surron'mo ARM suns Filed Dec. 14, 1966 I Illll INVENTORS HENRY O. KENDALL FLORENCE P. KENDALL BY i ; ATTO EY United States Patent Office 3,433,221 Patented Mar. 18, 1969 3,433,221 SHOULDER SUPPORTED ARM SLING Henry 0. Kendall and Florence P. Kendall, both of 3900 N. Charles St., Baltimore, Md. 21218 Filed Dec. 14, 1966, Ser. No. 601,725 U.S. Cl. 12894 Int. Cl. A61 /40 This invention relates to surgical arm slings such as are commonly used to support the arm of a person who has sufifered a fracture or dislocation of the arm, shoulder or collar bone, or as may also be employed in the treatment of certain diseases or discomforts of individuals not related to fractures or dislocations.

Slings of the character described, heretofore in common use, have certain disadvantages, all of which contribute, in one way or another, to the general discomfort of the wearer. For example, if the injured arm is not properly supported the wearer is subjected to unnecessary pain or fatigue and under such conditions the healing process may actually be impeded.

It has been found, for example, that to afford the greatest comfort to the wearer and effect the speediest recovery it is generally necessary to uniformly support the elbow and entire forearm. Provision for sufficient adjustment in the sling whereby such uniform support may be realized must therefore be made. Furthermore, for the sake of economy of manufacture, the adjustability must be of such character and degree as to reduce to a minimum the number of sizes of slings necessary to serve all people.

It is therefore one object of this invention to provide a sling which will afford the proper support for the arm to insure quick healing of the injury, and will give the greatest possible comfort to the wearer.

Another object is to provide for quick and easy adjustment whereby each size of sling may serve a greater number of people having relatively widely varying physical characteristics.

Still another object is to provide a sling which is relatively simple in structure and ease of manufacture.

It is a still further object to provide a sling which is readily adaptable to both the right and the left arm.

The above and additional objects will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which this invention relates as this description proceeds, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front perspective view of a surgical arm sling according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a rear perspective view;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 showing the sling as it would appear on a wearer with the fastening straps in one position of use; and

FIGURE 4 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 with the fastening straps in another position of use.

The sling comprises a body portion generally designated by the reference numeral 10. This body portion is made of any suitable material, such as cotton fabric, which possesses the proper strength characteristics to withstand the strain and hard usage to which devices of this nature are subjected. The body portion consists of a front panel 11 of generally rounded triangular form as clearly seen in FIGURE 1 and a rear panel 12 joined together as hereinafter described.

The front panel has a generally vertical edge 13 and a lower generally horizontal edge 14 joined to the vertical edge by a curved elbow portion 15. The vertical edge is curved inwardly rather abruptly at its upper portion 16 and then continues upwardly at an inclined angle at 17 to form a shoulder portion. At the end 1 8 of the shoulder portion of the edge of the front panel extends diagonally downwardly on an inclined curved line 19 and away from 3 Claims the generally vertical edge 13 and terminates in a second generally vertical edge 20 which in turn terminates at its lower end at the end of the generally horizontal edge 14.

The rear panel 12 has substantially the same general outline shape as the front'panel 11 except that the diagonally downwardly curved edge indicated at 19 on the front panel is broken and there is provided a generally oval shaped opening 21 extending inwardly from the downwardly curved edge and into the body of the rear panel 12 as may be clearly seen in FIGURE 2 of the drawing.

The front and rear panels are joined together, such as by sewing, along the generally vertical and generally horizontal edges and around the elbow portion. They are also joined together at the abruptly curved upper portion of the vertical edges and along the edges of the shoulder portion to the point 18 and along the lower portion only of the diagonally downwardly curved portion .19. The second generally vertical edge 20 of the front panel is not joined to the corresponding portion of the rear panel, thus forming an opening for the hand and wrist of the wearer. Similarly the upper portion of the diagonally downwardly curved edge 19 of the front panel is not joined to the corresponding portion of the rear panel and the entire oval shaped opening 21 of the rear panel is left entirely free of the front panel portion to provide space to insert the arm of the wearer in the vicinity under the arm and to allow some movement of the sling to provide for adjustment thereof on the wearer.

The sling is provided with fastening means such as metal rings 22, 23 and 24 secured thereto at points adjacent the upper edge of the oval opening in the rear panel and at the upper and lower portions of the hand and wrist opening adjacent the edge 20. These rings are adapted to receive hooks 25 or equivalent fastening means on supporting strap means 26. One or more of these supporting strap and hook means may be provided. It is preferable also that the hook on the strap be adjustable along the length thereof to provide for proper fitting of the sling to the wearer and afford proper adjustment for support and comfort.

As an optional feature the sling may also be provided with reinforcements at points of greatest strain. These reinforcements may be in the form of transverse tapes sewn across the seam between the front and rear panels as shown, for example, at 27 in the drawing.

In use, the sling is positioned on the wearer as shown in FIGURES 3 and 4 of the drawings. The forearm, upper arm and shoulder are positioned between the front and rear panels, with the rear panel with its oval opening adjacent the body of the wearer and the hand projecting from the opening adjacent edge 20 in the front panel. This will place the front panel 11 and the lower portion of the rear panel 12 in front of the wearer and the upper portion of the rear panel to the rear of the shoulder of the wearer with the inclined edge 17 atop the shoulder in position to support the weight of the arm.

To effect final adjustment and secure the sling in place the strap or straps 26 are then applied. As shown in FIGURE 3 one such strap may be fastened to ring 22 at the rear and brought around and under the opposite arm and then hooked to the ring 23 or the ring 24, whichever is found desirable. Under other circumstances two straps may be employed, both being fastened to the ring 22 at the rear with their other ends hooked to rings 23 and 24 at the front as shown in FIGURE 4. Another arrangement of straps would be to use one or two straps as just described and an additional strap fastened at the rear to ring 22, then brought up and over the opposite shoulder and down in front and hooked in ring 23. As the straps are adjustable in effective length as above stated, it is evident that they afford numerous possibilities of securing the best combination of support and comfort for the wearer.

Although the sling is shown in drawing as adapted to the left arm of a wearer, it is evident that the same sling may be applied to the right arm by merely turning the same inside out.

Although I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention, I do not wish to be limited thereto but desire to cover all variations thereof as would reasonably fall within the skill of the art and as defined by the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A surgical arm sling comprising juxtaposed front and rear fabric panels, each having a lower substantially horizontal edge, a substantially vertical side edge and a curved edge portion joining the substantially lower horizontal edge and substantially vertical side edge, said front and rear panels each further having an upwardly inclined edge portion extending from the upper end of the substantially vertical side edge, all of said mentioned edges of said front and rear panels being joined in a continuous seam and forming a cradle like support for the forearm, elbow and upper arm of a wearer, said front and rear panels each additionally having a downwardly inclined edge extending from the upper end of the upwardly inclined edge portion to a generally second vertical edge portion, which latter extends downwardly and joins the lower generally horizontal edge, said rear panel also having an opening therein of curved configuration extending inwardly from the downwardly inclined edge thereof into the body of the rear panel, the front and rear panels being secured together along the corresponding downwardly inclined edges thereof in a continuous seam between the point where the opening extends inwardly into the rear panel and the point where the downwardly inclined edges of the front and rear panels meet the second vertical edge portions of said panels, the portions of the downwardly inclined edges of the front and rear panels above the opening extending into the rear panel being disjoined to form a pocket to receive the shoulder of a wearer and said second vertical edge portions of said front and rear panels also being disjoined and forming an opening for emergence of the hand of a wearer, and means to secure the thus joined front and rear panels to the arm and body of a wearer to support the arm therein.

2. A surgical arm sling as defined in claim 1 in which the means to secure the joined front and rear panels to the arm and body of a wearer comprises a fastening element on the disjoined portion of the downwardly inclined edge of the rear panel adjacent the opening therein, a second fastening element located adjacent the disjoined vertical edge portions of the front and rear panels, a strap secured to the first mentioned fastening element on the rear panel and of sufficient length to pass across the back and under the arm of a wearer, and releasably secured to the second fastening element located adjacent the disjoined vertical edge portions of said front and rear panels.

3. The structure defined in claim 2 with the addition of a second strap, secured to the first mentioned fastening element on the rear panel and of sufiicient length to pass across the back of a wearer and over the shoulder and releasably secured to said second fastening element.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,594,809 4/1952 Sanders .s i 12894 2,875,754 3/1959 Messer 12894 3,103,216 9/1963 Scott l2894 RICHARD A. GAUDET, Primary Examiner.

RONALD L. FRINKS, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A SURGICAL ARM SLING COMPRISING JUXTAPOSED FRONT AND REAR FABRIC PANELS, EACH HAVING A LOWER SUBSTANTIALLY HORIZONTAL ENDGE, A SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL SIDE EDGE AND A CURVED EDGE PORTION JOINING THE SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER HORIZONTAL EDGE AND SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL SIDE EDGE, SAID FRONT AND REAR PANELS EACH FURTHER HAVING AN UPWARDLY INCLINED EDGE PORTION EXTENDING FROM THE UPPER END OF THE SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL SIDE EDGE, ALL OF SAID MENTIONED EDGES OF SAID FRONT AND REAR PANELS BEING JOINED IN A CONTINUOUS SEAM AND FORMING A CRADLE LIKE SUPPORT OF THE FOREARM, ELBOW AND UPPER ARM OF A WEARER, SAID FRONT AND REAR PANELS EACH ADDITIONALLY HAVING A DOWNWARDLY INCLINED EDGE EXTENDING FROM THE UPPER END OF THE UPWARDLY INCLINED, EDGE PORTION TO A GENERALLY SECOND VERTICAL EDGE PORTION, WHICH LATTER EXTENDS DOWNWARDLY AND JOINS THE LOWER GENERALLY HORIZONTAL EDGE, SAID REAR PANEL ALSO HAVING AN OPENING THEREIN OF CURVED CONFIGURATION EXTENDING INWARDLY FROM THE DOWNWARDLY INCLINED EDGE THEREOF INTO THE BODY OF THE REAR PANEL, THE FRONT AND REAR PANELS BEING SECURED TOGETHER ALONG THE CORRESPONDING DOWNWARDLY INCLINED EDGES THEREOF IN A CONTINUOUS SEAM BETWEEN THE POINT WHERE THE OPENING EXTENDS IN- 